New York City Day One (part 1)

As I mentioned earlier, I booked a trip to New York City to see my French friend run the marathon.  It was a last minute thing, but I’m glad I went in the end.  I was pretty nervous about it, too.  The last time I was in New York was 10 years ago.  I remember how tough this city could be.  I also remembered how I would get lost riding the NYC transit.  I was getting stressed out.

Along with Halloween Day being on an unexpected day itself, I really had one day to look over my carry on.  My flight was early in the morning on Friday.  Of course I had thoughts of over sleeping, but it was mostly because leading up to that day, I WASN’T getting much sleep.  My friend made me feel better when he called me Thursday night.  He had arrived from France a day earlier.  For the first time in two weeks, I got a excited about this trip.

I had scheduled an uber pick up around 3:45am-4:10am.  My flight was at 5:57am.  Not exactly 6am, but enough to make you question what time they were boarding.  I wanted to miss the rush hour morning commute so I figured if I arrive at the airport before 5am, I should be fine.  My alarm went off and everything happened so fast after that.  I do not think I ever went into a deep sleep.  I got up and washed up and then changed into my clothes.  I was hoping to sleep on the flight.

My uber showed up right on time.  They even send you a reminder, just in case.  I remember being in the uber and praying that there would be no traffic heading to the airport.  I just wanted this part to be over.

Luckily at the airport, I got through security in no time.  I remembered looking at the other passengers at our terminal.  Some of them looked excited for their trip.  I wished I could feel that way, I thought to myself.

Part of the contribution to my nerves was the weather.  I checked leading up to my trip, and it never changed.  Thunderstorms were in the forecast the entire day.  I grew angry when the pilot warned us early on.  “Well the first half of our flight should be smooth; but the second half won’t be.”  What the hell???  I wish pilots could have a sense of empathy for the ones who are scared shitless of flying!

Well, as it was predicted, the turbulence WAS BAD.  I decided to brave through this and not take anything because it was a short flight.  But I never got any sleep.  It was a long 30-40 minutes of pure hell but in the end, we landed safely.  My body was exhausted from being tensed up.

I loved that I had my carry-on luggage with me.  Once we landed I zoomed out of there.  I didn’t realize how many people were at LaGuardia!  It was a bit frustrating trying to navigate towards the exit.  I was stuck trying to figure out what “bus” line I was supposed to take that will lead me to the subway station at Roosevelt.  A nice gentleman pointed out to me that I was to get a ticket inside the airport before I get on the bus.  I saw the customer service counter with the line forming and got behind someone.  Once I figured out that I was to purchase a metro card I ran outside to see if I could catch my bus.  Not yet!  I still had to obtain some receipt.  Again, someone helped me figure that part out.  I had to insert my metro card in a machine to obtain my receipt.  Luckily the bus was still waiting.  I jumped on and tried to give the driver the receipt but she just told me to “go ahead” and move towards the back.  So much for that.

I arrived at the Roosevelt subway station and checked my Google maps to see where I was going.  So far so good.  I caught my train and felt relieved I was on my way.  Of course once I got off my stop I was lost.  I walked around for a bit and found a Starbucks.  I needed to charge my phone so I went inside and ordered a latte while I waited for my phone to charge.  

Believe it or not, the weather in New York was unseasonably warm.  It neared 70 degrees that day!  I had on layers since it was much colder in Chicago, but by now, I was sweating and getting frustrated I couldn’t find my hotel.  I jumped in a cab.  He drove me up to my hotel (which was a surprise to me).  I finally found it!  What a relief!

Well, not exactly.  Apparently, my room was not ready.  I was thrown off.  I wanted to shower and nap for a bit.  Since I did not have a room yet, they agreed to hold my luggage and encouraged me to come back later.  “So, in about two hours?”, I asked.  “We sold out completely last night.  Hopefully.”  That did not sound promising.

A Plane, a train, and a bus ride to Paris

I woke up SUPER NERVOUS the day I flew out of Rome.  We had to get up early because we were driving back to Rome from Milan.  A five hour drive is NOT the ideal situation to catch a flight.  Of course anything can happen, and I thought of every scenario.  Luckily my bff knew I would be a mess, so we quickly checked out of our apartment and hit the road.

Our drive there was fine until we got closer to the airport.  That’s when it started to rain HARD.  I tried to remain calm but my friend kept talking to me to get my mind off of the weather.  Once I arrived at the airport, she helped me with my luggage and even waited in line with me for a bit at the ticket counter.  We hugged goodbye and then I was on my own.

I killed some time with a glass of wine at a restaurant and bought a souvenir for my mom.  I felt a sudden urge of guilt since I forgot to get something for her in Milan.  Hopefully she’ll understand…

I boarded my flight and off I went.  Luckily the rain wasn’t severe and I landed two hours later in Paris.  By now it was after 6:30pm and I wanted to reach out to my Parisan friends to see if they would put me up for the night.  Unfortunately, they were not available.  I found a spot at a café and tried booking a hotel at the airport.  After a frustrating 40 minutes I settled on a good price for a hotel but wasn’t quite sure where it was.  I knew I made a costly mistake.  My hotel was an hour and a half away from the airport!  I had to catch my train.

I rode the train for a while.  It was now dark and I had no idea where I was going.  Once I got off a stop I had to catch a bus.  I have never done this before in Paris.  According to google maps I had to ride through 17 stops before I get off!  Oh my goodness.  Traveling with a suitcase didn’t help either.  I felt so exposed.  I couldn’t hide the fact that I was a tourist.

To make matters worse, my stop was at the end of the line for this bus route.  I finally got off on a nearly empty bus and saw a Holiday Inn.  I did not know where my hotel was, but I knew I was near.  I went inside and asked the concierge if they had an idea.  Luckily my hotel was right behind the Holiday Inn.  I felt relieved.

I checked in and got to my room.  It was now 10pm.  I still had no idea what part of Paris I was at.  I asked the front desk man if I was still in Paris and he looked at me strangely.  “You are in the Business district of Paris”, he replied.  My hotel was a French version of an extended stay.  It had a small fridge and stovetop.  I actually was impressed because it was very roomy and wide.  I decided to venture out in the morning and call it a night.  I was exhausted.